For reasons I do not know, it's like the Windsors venerate Albert and Victoria as the Adam and Eve of the monarchy. Everything is kept as Victorian as possible.

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^ Queen Victoria had an extraordinarily long reign, though, the longest before the present Queen's. Plus several descendants remain European monarchs.

^^^ As far as the Empress Augusta of Germany objecting to the wedding of Princess Beatrice to Henry of Battenburg, Victoria treated the complaint with contempt. She had long objected to the German system of 'unequal marriages', (she once said that the way the Germans treated bloodlines reminded her of breeding horses) and she probably considered Augusta, known as Dona, impertinent.

Dona was the wife of her eldest grandchild Willie (Wilhelm II of Germany) and there had been objections about her own low rank, as the daughter of a rather obscure German prince, at the time of her wedding to William. Henry was only a Serene Highness in the German Empire as his mother had been a Countess and his father a Prince, an unequal marriage, but Victoria made Henry a Highness (a higher rank) within Britain.

^^ Exactly. Been saying that for a long time. V&A introduced new rules & traditions, did things their way, but all their descendants still follow all those rules & traditions as if V&A will come and beat them up if they change anything. Celebrating Xmas still the German way!!

^ Queen Victoria had an extraordinarily long reign, though, the longest before the present Queen's. Plus several descendants remain European monarchs.

Other monarchs came before Victoria and Albert; there was the Regency era and Tudors and before the Tudors, the Plantagenet dynasty.

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Yes, I know about all the British and English Monarchs before Victoria, including the Anglo Saxon kings. However, a sovereign who is on the throne for over sixty years (like Victoria) is bound to have more influence on her successors than those who were around for only a couple of decades or less many centuries ago.

And after all, Victoria didn't leave orders that her descendants were to have German Xmases for ever more. The present Queen (and her father and grandfather etc) obviously enjoy having the big celebration on Christmas Eve. They must find it convenient and pleasant or they wouldn't continue to do it that way. And really, who are they harming by celebrating in that fashion?

Here in Australia we have families whose forebears left Greece five generations ago, but they still play Greek music, eat Greek food at festival and holiday times. We have neighbours of Norwegian descent, same thing.

^ Queen Victoria had an extraordinarily long reign, though, the longest before the present Queen's. Plus several descendants remain European monarchs.

^^^ As far as the Empress Augusta of Germany objecting to the wedding of Princess Beatrice to Henry of Battenburg, Victoria treated the complaint with contempt. She had long objected to the German system of 'unequal marriages', (she once said that the way the Germans treated bloodlines reminded her of breeding horses) and she probably considered Augusta, known as Dona, impertinent.

Dona was the wife of her eldest grandchild Willie (Wilhelm II of Germany) and there had been objections about her own low rank, as the daughter of a rather obscure German prince, at the time of her wedding to William. Henry was only a Serene Highness in the German Empire as his mother had been a Countess and his father a Prince, an unequal marriage, but Victoria made Henry a Highness (a higher rank) within Britain.

Wasn't Dona a descendant of her own sister, Feodora? Victoria never seemed to realize that her becoming Queen was just an accident of fate and she was just as German as they were.

^Princess Adelheid of Hohenlohe-Langenburg (1835-1900) was the daughter of Princess Feodora and her husband, Prince Ernest I of Hohenlohe-Langenburg. Adelheid married Frederick VIII, Duke of Schleswig-Holstein. Their daughter was Augusta Victoria (Dona).

In Victoria: A Life, A. N. Wilson wrote: Queen Victoria deplored feminism. Only in January 1870, the Queen had told Gladstone that she had 'the strongest aversion for the so-called & most erroneous "Rights of Women"'.

I don't think Victoria approved of votes for women. She took the view of many of her contemporaries that women could be a greater influence helping behind the scenes and being a helpmate for their spouses or parents. She never seemed to recognise the irony of this with regard to her own position as Head of State, especially after Albert's death. On the other hand she greatly admired those women who actively did good for their fellow humans like Florence Nightingale and the philanthropist Angela Burdett Coutts.

^^ From all I know about her the quote FL posted is very apt. She believed women did not belong in power, their place was in the kitchen, that women should not have the vote and yeah was generally very anti-feminist, the Suffragettes weren't her thing at all. Ironic, given she was a queen.

^ Indeed. I'm not too sure, but I think that's one of the reasons why she gave so much power to Albert.. He was the man. But again, I'm hazy on that tidbit.